WASHINGTON, D.C. - Two former top executives of Bayer AG, the German chemicals
producer, were indicted today by a federal grand jury for participating in an
international price-fixing conspiracy in the rubber chemicals industry, the
Department of Justice announced.

In separate indictments, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the
grand jury charged Jurgen Ick and Gunter Monn with conspiring with other
corporate and individual co-conspirators to suppress competition by fixing the
prices of rubber chemicals sold in the United States and elsewhere. Ick,
former head of Bayer’s Rubber Business Group, was charged with participating
in the conspiracy from 1995 to 2001. Monn, former head of marketing of Bayer’s
Rubber Business Group, was charged with joining the conspiracy in or about
January 1997. Both Ick and Monn are German citizens.

Rubber chemicals are a group of additives used to improve the elasticity,
strength, and durability of rubber products, such as tires, outdoor furniture,
hoses, belts, and footwear. Approximately $1 billion of rubber chemicals are
sold annually in the United States.

Thus far, more than $200 million in criminal fines have resulted from the
Antitrust Division’s ongoing investigations of price fixing of various
rubber-related products. Over the past 18 months the Division has obtained
guilty pleas from five companies--Bayer AG, Syndial S.p.A., Crompton
Corporation, DuPont Dow Elastomers, Zeon Chemicals--and including today’s
charges, a total of six executives.

“Anyone who participates in these type of international conspiracies that
defraud Americans millions of dollars faces great risk of being caught and
prosecuted, no matter where they are located or where they commit their
crime,” said Thomas O. Barnett, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Department’s Antitrust Division.

The former Bayer executives were charged with carrying out the conspiracy with
their co-conspirators by:

Participating in meetings among major rubber chemical producers to discuss the
prices of rubber chemicals to be sold in the United States and elsewhere;

Agreeing, during those discussions and meetings, to increase prices of rubber
chemicals to be sold in the United States and elsewhere;

Participating in discussions and meetings concerning implementation and
adherence to the agreement reached; and

Issuing price announcements and price quotations in accordance with the
agreements reached.

“The cases filed today follow a long line of prosecutions of companies and
individuals who participated in the rubber chemicals conspiracy and are the
result of the successful cooperation of others involved in the conspiracy,”
said Scott Hammond, the Antitrust Division’s Deputy Assistant Attorney General
for Criminal Enforcement.

Prior to today’s cases, Bayer and Crompton Corporation pleaded guilty to
participating in the conspiracy and paid fines of $66 million and $50 million,
respectively. In addition, Joseph B. Eisenberg and James J. Conway, both
former Crompton executives, and Martin Petersen and Wolfgang Koch, both former
Bayer executives, have all pleaded guilty to participating in the same
conspiracy. Koch recently was sentenced to serve a four-month prison term and
to pay a $50,000 fine. Eisenberg, Conway, and Petersen await sentencing.

Ick and Monn were charged with violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act, which
carries a maximum penalty for violations occurring prior to June 22, 2003 of
three years imprisonment and a $350,000 fine for individuals. The maximum fine
may be increased to twice the gain the conspirators derived from the crime or
twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those
amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

The charges announced today stem from an ongoing investigation being conducted
by the Antitrust Division’s San Francisco Field Office and the Federal Bureau
of Investigation in San Francisco.